Furniture designer

Sigurd Resell

Sigurd Resell was a Norwegian furniture designer, and in the 1950s and 1960s he was one of the country's strongest designers. What characterizes Relling's furniture are clear, logical constructions. He wrote himself into design history with the Falcon armchair, which helped triple Vatne Lenestolfabrikk's turnover within two years.

The early years

Sigurd Resell had a solid carpentry education in his background before he studied at the Wood Department at the Staten's Handicrafts and Art Industry School (1943-1947).

After his studies, he was employed at Rastad & Relling Tegnekontor. He stayed there until 1968, with the exception of a short period from 1953 to 1956. For Rastad & Relling, he designed some of the post-war period's most distinctive furniture. The more commercial contributions include the armchair Blinken (1956) and chairs in the Bambi series.

Resell was also one of Rastad & Relling's most important contributors to equipping the Storting building with new furniture when it was extended in the 1950s.

In 1959, Resell won a prize at Copenhagen's Snedkerlaug's furniture competition for the armchair SR59. The chair's distinctive feature is the softly designed backrest which almost slides over the armrests. SR59 was first made by master carpenter Niels Vodder in Copenhagen, but today the chair is produced by Japanese Kitani under the name SR-01.

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Møbler i stål

På 1960-tallet formga Sigurd Resell en rekke møbler i stål. Lenestolen Sirkel er en eksklusiv stol med en bueformet skinnrygg og stålbein med holker (knotter) i palisander. Den ble først produsert av Gustav Bahus Eftf. før den ble overtatt av Møre Lenestolfabrikk.

I 1962 deltok Resell med seks modeller i bordkonkurransen til Bransjerådet for møbel- og innredningsindustrien. Varianter av bordet Steel med understell i flatstål ble tildelt to andrepremier.

Vatne Lenestolfabrikk

I 1968 mistet Vatne Lenestolfabrikk, et sentralt norsk møbelmerke og fabrikk, sin formgiver Fredrik Kayser, som døde uventet. Resell gikk inn i rollen hans og begynte et samarbeid som skulle resultere i opptil flere ikoniske møbler. Blant dem var «Falcon-stolen», lansert i 1971, som raskt ble ettertraktet i både Norge og utlandet. Falcon-stolen, med sitt karakteristiske lær og metallrammeoppheng, ble et tidløst eksempel på skandinavisk estetikk og fikk umiddelbar popularitet i markeder som USA, Japan, Tyskland og Australia.